Turning Soybeans Into Ice Cream Makes A Fruitful Harvest Of Money

LOS ANGELES -- David Mintz does not scream for ice cream -- and he thinks you shouldn`t either.

From his kitchen command post, Mintz is leading a revolution of sorts to shift U.S. eating habits away from fatty foods and toward his cholesterol-free tofu treats.

In less than five years, Mintz, 54, a former caterer, has taken tofu from the shelves of health food stores and made it popular through his concoction called Tofutti, a frozen dessert.

``Somehow a boy from the Bronx is showing the Japanese how to market tofu. That`s like a Japanese trying to show an American how to make apple pie,`` said Mintz, president and chairman of the board of Tofutti Brands Inc.

Armed only with an arsenal of soybeans, Mintz built a multimillion-dollar business selling tofu disguised as creamy, tasty frozen desserts, pastries, ``meatballs,`` burgers and sauces.

``We`re leading a food revolution by taking products that are normally sinful and making them good for you,`` Mintz said.

Since 1981, Mintz has carved a healthy niche in the competitive world of ice creams, frozen yogurts, and other cool taste treats with Tofutti, a cholesterol-free, lactose-free and butterfat-free frozen dessert.

In its natural state, tofu has all the attractiveness and taste of spongy rubber. But not in Mintz`s kitchen.

A devout Orthodox Jew, Mintz stumbled onto tofu in 1972 when he sought a milk-free product to satisfy his kosher customers, who do not mix meat with dairy goods.

``It always left me frustrated. A cheeseburger was heresy.``

Mintz found the answer to his dilemma in a magazine article on tofu, an unripened cheesy substance made from soybean curd.

``My antenna went up,`` he recalls. ``I felt like I was reborn. The omen was there. Something was telling me to seek it out, but every step of the way I had obstacles. I didn`t know from beans about making frozen desserts. I was a caterer.

``Everybody discouraged me. Told me to drop it. Said I was wasting my time. I found that everyone was suffering from a disease called complacency.``

Experimenting in the kitchen of his catering business after shopping excursions into New York`s Chinatown, Mintz kept trying to find a way to blend tofu into something creamy. He hit pay dirt with a sauce for beef stroganoff that pleased his kosher customers.

Nine years of constant after-hours tinkering led to the discoveries of several exotic tofu recipes, including one for an ice-cream-like substance that Mintz would call Tofutti.

Soybean ice cream?

``The proof isn`t in the pudding, it`s in the taste. You cannot dispute taste,`` Mintz said. ``No one, thank God, has come close to the taste of Tofutti. Try it, taste it and tell me you don`t love it.``

Tofutti got a cool reception from consumers when it first appeared in the late summer of 1981. After its first year on the market, only $23,847 worth of Tofutti was sold.

By the end of 1983, people`s taste buds warmed enough to help Mintz sell $329,171 worth of Tofutti. In the summer of 1984, through, Tofutti became more than just another frozen dessert: It became a fad, a craze, a cool lick with a hot ticket. By year`s end, Tofutti sales totaled $2.3 million, and in 1985, they were $17.1 million.

``If you set your mind to it, you can do anything,`` Mintz said. ``I willed this to happen. I had so much energy that it happened. I`ve seen people go through so many obstacles. If you set your heart and soul into it you can overcome anything.``

Despite the sudden sales boost, the company still reported a year-end 1985 loss of $2.6 million, or 37 cents a share. Mintz took his company public in 1983 as an alternative to investment offers by venture capitalists who also demanded Mintz employ cost-cutting measures to boost profits instead of quality.

``Venture capitalists threw money at me,`` he said. ``They said we could change our profit margins by cutting down on certain steps. They looked at our 50 percent overrun and said if we doubled it to 100 percent we could double our profits, but that would have changed the taste.

``I don`t want any venture capitalists. I want to feel I have control of the company,`` he said. ``Tofutti has made me a multimillionaire.``

Mintz can say this without sounding brash. He seems at ease with his newfound wealth, which he said totals at least $50 million. Mintz is more interested in finding out a stranger`s reactions to Tofutti than discussing money.

Despite his success, Mintz still works hard.

``There`s no question about it, David works entirely too hard for his own good,`` said Harold Hawley, Toffuti`s executive vice president of product development and international affairs.

``Hours mean nothing to him. Lots of times David and I would work all day and love every minute of it.``

Aside from buying a new home and putting a cellular telephone in his car, Mintz said he has avoided the trappings of his wealth.

``I`ve been told I should hire a chauffeur, but I don`t want to be a fat cat,`` he said while patting his stomach.